High school reunions are a rollercoaster ride of memories and emotions. In 2005 my former classmates celebrated 30 years since their graduation.
At first I was excited. Then I started to worry.
My first reaction was to step on the bathroom scales. I groaned as they tipped a dozen kilograms above my high school weight. The second thing I did was to buy a brand new pair of jeans.
Like most teenagers I spent my time at high school waiting for my real life to turn up. At night I listened to the semi-trailers rumbling through Benalla.
One day, I thought, I will get out of this place. In the 70s we talked a lot about Melbourne.
Melbourne had real football and real cricket. Melbourne had beaches. Melbourne did not close down at 5pm.
Thirty years later I wondered how many of us fulfilled our dreams.
The reunion was held at the Benalla Bowls Club and a familiar face greeted me.
“Geoffrey Johnstone!” a trim, middle aged woman exclaimed. I stared blankly for a moment. “It’s me, Kerry,” she added.
“Oh, Kerry!” I exclaimed right back. “You look great,” I blurted out completely inappropriately. An image of a young Year 12 child nursing a broken wrist gave way to a beaming adult soaking up the compliment.
This became a common theme throughout the evening. A familiar face would trigger a flood of memories followed by a quick summary of the past three decades.
During speeches awards were given for spurious achievements. A local builder won ‘student who moved the shortest distance’ (4.7km.) There was an award for the person who had changed the most. Also for the person who was first to marry. Then to my surprise I took out the award for the person who had changed the least.
At midnight a disgruntled manager asked us to leave his venue. An impromptu barbecue was planned for the next day.
High school reunions are great. But there are thee things you need to know about them.
First of all, most people make their lifelong friends in the first three years after high school. We made promises about keeping in touch and we even set up a Facebook page. But over the next six months we drifted apart and eventually lost touch for all the same reasons we went our own ways in the first place.
Secondly, you can go back to a place but you can never go back to a time. If I could speak to my teenage self I would say, “enjoy the moment. One day a 40-year-old man will look at you from the mirror and ask, “So when is your real life going to turn up?”’
Thirdly, high school reunions do not resolve the relationship problems you had as a teenager. The girl you were too shy to talk to is now happily married. The friend who lost interest in you in Year 7 has all but forgotten you. By the end of the night you will be hanging out with the same group of people you had in high school.
Geoffrey Johnstone is the pastor of the Seymour Baptist Church.
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